I Love a Good Mystery

I live at the end of a cul-de-sac. There are no houses with kids around me. The ones at the top of the hill are too lazy to walk down to fetch stray balls. I have a small dog who weights as much as the missing stone. The deer who inhabit the woods surrounding my backyard do, on occasion, wander up for a visit or a nibble, but how could they carry off a 10 pound stone? What do you suppose happened to it?

The Wine-Meister

So Hubby had to leave for a few days and asked me to take care of his wine.
Sure, just what do I have to do?
Take the towel off and check out the "bubbling action."
If it's sticky, take some paper towels and wipe the jug off so it doesn't get the counter messy. FYI, Wine-Mentor told him not to strain the seeds so that's what you see collecting at the top.

Dinner Out

Yesterday was a pretty lazy day but the highlight was dinner at the lake with friends. Hot topics ranged from Barbara Walters comments about the new "Bruno" movie; to starting a new career as a food critic; to Jon Gosselin. We agreed with the Barbara that the movie was trashy. We wondered if you could become a really good critic without knowing all your spices, and Jon Gosselin needs to face reality. He is a father of eight kids and they should be his priority at this time. That's it, world problems solved for this month!!

Blackberries

I live in the city but believe it or not, I have a "wild" blackberry patch next door. Aren't they gorgeous!! I like to get out early in the morning and pick before it gets too hot/humid. Today I didn't make it. It rained and became sweltering hot immediately after. So the blackberries will stay on the vine and I'll try not to look at them as I drive by.

Butterfly Story

Because I feel that good teachers should be storytellers, I always tried, at least every other day, to tell a story to my students. This is one they enjoyed and asked many questions about. I updated it to make it sound like it happened over the week-end so I could start out by saying "Hey guys, guess what happened to me on Saturday." I love to ride on the KATY and I was on my way back past the river cruising as fast as I could past the cornfields. Because it was late summer the grasshoppers were huge and flying everywhere. Big and brown and rude, I just hate them on a bike, anyway my side vision caught something flying beside me. I knew it wasn't a grasshopper, but I was surprised to see a butterfly, shoulder-level to me. He was quite beautiful, dark blue and outlined in gold. Instinctively, I could sense that this butterfly was racing with me. As I increased my speed, he flew faster. When I slowed down, he did the same. Gosh, I'm racing with a butterfly, I'll remember this forever. After a bit, he was gone. When I got home I looked him up in my Butterfly book and I found out that he was a Mourningcloak. They exhibit territoriality; meaning they will literally chase any invaders away. That's what he was trying to do. "Hey you human, get out of my space!!"

Henry is puny

My Henry Fonda is somewhat puny this year. He's my very favorite, probably because of the rich, buttery yellow color. Believe me, I've been doing all I can think of to nurse him back to health and he is shooting up a few blooms; that's a good sign. I read in a book that a good dose of bacon grease is a good thing for roses, I'd try it but I'm afraid every dog in the neighborhood would be visiting. Still it might be worth a try...

The Fourth of July Tomato

Just call me Master Gardener!! Did I not brag that I would have a ripe tomato by the Fourth? Despite the cool, rainy weather that went on forever and being attacked/knocked over by backyard dwelling deer, I predict this beauty will be picked by Saturday. I think a classic BLT(by classic I mean real bacon) is the order of the day.

On another note, I walked a total of 45 and a half miles during the month of June, subbed three days of summer school and started several projects, none of which are finished at this time. But I'm working on em!!

By the way, is anybody reading this blog?